Spinach Frittata

Ingredients:
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
2 tablespoons feta cheese
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
pinch of ground pepper
1 tablespoon minced red onion
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped spinach
1/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon oil

Preheat oven to 450. Place a one-cup baking dish on a rimmed pan and put in oven to heat.

Saute onions in oil until tender. Stir in red wine vinegar and spinach. Cook over medium heat until just wilted. Set aside to drain and cool. Whisk together eggs, milk, salt and pepper until well blended. Still in drained onion-spinach mix and ONE tablespoon of feta cheese.

Remove pan from oven. Spray baking dish with non-stick spray and immediately pour mix in. Top with remaining one tablespoon of cheese. Return to oven and bake for 15 minutes or until puffed up and lightly golden. Enjoy!

Notes: Original recipe modified from Everyday Food magazine. This recipe serves one but can easily be made for more by doubling, tripling, etc. Also, spinach should be measured BEFORE chopping!

Grandma Rosa's Lemon Meringue Pie

Ingredients:
1 3oz box Jell-O Lemon Pudding & Pie Filling (non-instant)
2 Tablespoons Margarine
3 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 baked single pie crust
2 Egg Whites
1/2 cup Sugar

Cook pie filling according to directions on box for pie. Remove from heat and add margarine and lemon juice. Stir well. Pour into pie crust. Cool Beat egg whites. Gradually add sugar while beating until meringue stands in stiff peaks. Spread over top of pie and brown in 350 oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Written exactly as my Great-Grandmother Rosa Ferrier directed it be made. Posted in loving memory of one of the greatest women the world has known.

Peppermint Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
Cake:
1 box mix chocolate cake, plus ingredients required
1 crushed/ground up candy cane

Icing:
1/4 cup softened butter
7 oz jar marshmallow creme
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1+ tablespoon milk
3-4 drops green food coloring

Topping:
1/4 cup crushed hard peppermint candies such as candy canes
1/4 cup diced Andes mints or similar chocolate covered creme mint candies

Prepare cake per directions, adding in the ground up candy cane at the end of mixing. Bake in two 8" cake pans. Cool completely on cooling rack.

In a large bowl, combine 1/4 cup softened butter, marshmallow creme, and peppermint extract. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Mix in a cup of powdered sugar and one tablespoon milk. Continue to gradually add in remaining sugar. Thin as needed with additional milk.

Place one cake onto serving platter. Trim top off with serrated knife to make a flat, even surface. Spread a thin layer of icing over even surface. Place second cake atop the first. Use remaining icing to ice and decorate the cake. Mix the two candy toppings together and sprinkle across top.

Potato Bacon Soup

Ingredients:

6 large russet potatoes, peeled and finely diced

1 large leek, green half discarded, white part cut into 1/2 inch rings

12 oz (1 package) bacon

32 oz chicken broth

1 cup water

1/2 Tablespoon granulated sea salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

In a large soup pot, fry off the bacon while chopping vegetables. Drain bacon and set aside. In bacon grease, sautee the chopped leaks until tender. Add in chicken broth, water, salt, pepper and potatoes. Boil until potatoes mash easily with a spoon.

Allow to cool until very warm, but not so hot as to quickly build steam. Pour soup into large bowl. Ladle out about 1 1/2 cups of the potatoes and leeks, draining juice back into the bowl. In a blender, puree the remaining soup in 3-4 batches until all remaining soup is blended. Pour into soup pot with whole potato and leek pieces.

Reheat over medium heat to desired temperature, stirring often. While reheating, crumble bacon and stir into soup.

Notes: I prefer to use the free range, low sodium boxed variety of chicken broth. For the bacon, I suggest hickory or mesquite smoked - stay away from the sweeter bacons with maple molasses. This is meant to be a more hearty dish than those types of bacon allow for.